Strike!
The True History of Mass Insurgence from 1877 to the Present

Brecher, Jeremy
Publisher:  Straight Arrow Books, San Francisco, USA
Year First Published:  {12450 Strike! STRIKE The True History of Mass Insurgence from 1877 to the Present Brecher, Jeremy Straight Arrow Books San Francisco USA A history-from-below that brings to light strikes as authentic revolutionary movements against the establishments of state, capital, and trade unionism. 1972 1997 329pp BC12450-Strike.jpg B Book 0-89608-569-4 331.892 Brecher writes: The mains actors in the story are ordinary working people. Most historians, whether radical or conservative, tend to consider ordindary workers a mere "rank and file," controlled and directed by unions and labor leaders. Strikes are presumably the work of these organizations and leaders. I have found, on the contrary, that far from fomenting strikes and rebellions, unions and labor leaders have most often striven to prevent or contain them, while the drive to extend them has generally come from a most undocile "rank and file." Indeed, the most important lessons I learned in preparing this book is the extent to which ordinary working people, acting on their own, have through the decades thought, planned, drawn lessons from their own experiences, organized themselves, and taken action in common. Much of the time these abilities have had no chance for expression; they were suppressed in a society which believed ordindary working people should distrust one another and obey their superiors. But when "looking out for number one" and "getting along by going along" no longer worked, people discovered that together they had powers they never suspected. <br> <br>This is important because the greatest problem we face today is our powerlessness. It underlies every particular problem we face: war, pollution, racism, brutality, injustice, insecurity, and the feeling of being trapped, our lives wasting away, pushed around by forces beyond our control. The source of all these problems is not some cruel decree of fate; every one of them results from the fact that we do not control the life or our own society. The fundamental problem we face -- and the key to solving the more particular problems -- is to transform society so that ordinary people control it. <br> <br> <br>Table of Contents: <br> <br>Preface <br> <br>Part I: The History of American Strikes <br>Prologue <br>Chapter 1: The Great Upheaval <br>Chapter 2: May Day <br>Chapter 3: "The Ragged Edge of Anarchy" <br>Chapter 4: Nineteen Nineteen <br>Chapter 5: Depression Decade <br> "Don't Starve - Fight" <br> Nineteen Thirty Four <br> Sitdown <br>Chapter 6: Postscript the War and Post-war Strike Wave <br> <br>Part II: The Significance of American Strikes <br>Chapter 7: The Significance of Mass Strikes <br> The Mass Strike Process <br> The Course of Mass Strikes <br> The Containment of Mass Strikes <br>Chapter 8: The Current Scene <br>Chapter 9: From Mass Strike to New Society <br>Afterword: A Challenge to Historians CX6590 0 true true false CX6590.htm [0xc000be5200 0xc0019ed440 0xc001d5e570 0xc001d740f0 0xc001f9eed0 0xc002238300 0xc002262fc0 0xc0002788a0 0xc00029a030 0xc000300f30 0xc000329410 0xc002371aa0 0xc002422870 0xc00024aba0 0xc00087cf30 0xc000901380 0xc000820540 0xc000820e40 0xc0003aaf90 0xc0004e6b70 0xc001538150 0xc001539dd0 0xc0002d3530 0xc000446cf0 0xc00052daa0 0xc0002a7470 0xc000f214a0 0xc000f4c720 0xc0016be6f0 0xc001859e90 0xc0019a65a0 0xc001aa4db0 0xc00213d4a0 0xc0023bb470 0xc00261ed20 0xc0026c3740 0xc00024f920 0xc000378c00 0xc0003afad0 0xc000415ec0 0xc000448600 0xc000449ce0 0xc001078060 0xc0014eb200 0xc001927410 0xc001a29950 0xc00212eb40 0xc002765530 0xc0027779e0 0xc00279c990 0xc0027c76e0 0xc0028051a0 0xc002856600 0xc00286fd40 0xc002887d40] Cx}
Year Published:  1997
Pages:  329pp   ISBN:  0-89608-569-4
  Dewey:  331.892
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX6590

A history-from-below that brings to light strikes as authentic revolutionary movements against the establishments of state, capital, and trade unionism.

Abstract: 
Brecher writes: The mains actors in the story are ordinary working people. Most historians, whether radical or conservative, tend to consider ordindary workers a mere "rank and file," controlled and directed by unions and labor leaders. Strikes are presumably the work of these organizations and leaders. I have found, on the contrary, that far from fomenting strikes and rebellions, unions and labor leaders have most often striven to prevent or contain them, while the drive to extend them has generally come from a most undocile "rank and file." Indeed, the most important lessons I learned in preparing this book is the extent to which ordinary working people, acting on their own, have through the decades thought, planned, drawn lessons from their own experiences, organized themselves, and taken action in common. Much of the time these abilities have had no chance for expression; they were suppressed in a society which believed ordindary working people should distrust one another and obey their superiors. But when "looking out for number one" and "getting along by going along" no longer worked, people discovered that together they had powers they never suspected.

This is important because the greatest problem we face today is our powerlessness. It underlies every particular problem we face: war, pollution, racism, brutality, injustice, insecurity, and the feeling of being trapped, our lives wasting away, pushed around by forces beyond our control. The source of all these problems is not some cruel decree of fate; every one of them results from the fact that we do not control the life or our own society. The fundamental problem we face -- and the key to solving the more particular problems -- is to transform society so that ordinary people control it.


Table of Contents:

Preface

Part I: The History of American Strikes
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Great Upheaval
Chapter 2: May Day
Chapter 3: "The Ragged Edge of Anarchy"
Chapter 4: Nineteen Nineteen
Chapter 5: Depression Decade
"Don't Starve - Fight"
Nineteen Thirty Four
Sitdown
Chapter 6: Postscript the War and Post-war Strike Wave

Part II: The Significance of American Strikes
Chapter 7: The Significance of Mass Strikes
The Mass Strike Process
The Course of Mass Strikes
The Containment of Mass Strikes
Chapter 8: The Current Scene
Chapter 9: From Mass Strike to New Society
Afterword: A Challenge to Historians

Subject Headings

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